A helping hand: Perez brings Indiana Health Centers services to those in need
It can be scary falling through the cracks and losing healthcare, or never having it to begin with. Being in that position can also bring individual shame and keep those in need of medical care from seeking it out.
Indiana Health Centers, located at 1700 Dividend Dr., wants those who need aid to know there is nothing to fear. There is no reason to feel shame.
“We are here to uplift the community,” said case manager Rosa Perez. “There are a lot of struggles that people go through. Just because people say ‘services are available here’ or ‘you can go there’, sometimes it’s a lot for a patient. I’m here to help them with transportation, housing, medication, anything and everything they need help with. They can just call me and walk in. No question is silly.”
Perez has spent 16 years at IHC and was inspired to take the case manager position shortly after a young woman who had been doing the job began treatment for cancer.
Perez is happy to say the young woman is now a healthy mother of two. She strives to bring the same care and service her predecessor gave others.
IHC provides typical health services such as checkups, exams and lab work. They also reach out to other organizations such as Area Five, Logansport Memorial Hospital and 4C Health to cover patient needs.
Recently, IHC added two new service providers: James Levenson, family nurse practitioner, and Daniel Mulawa, physician assistant, to their staff.
For Perez, she will help patients complete registration and apply for insurance—both for themselves and their children. She will reach out to patients and remind them that important health checkups are approaching, like a woman’s mammogram.
“When people are starting to come in and I see they need a little additional help, I create a care plan,” she said. “I follow up and I call them. If I don’t hear from them, I will go to their home. Sometimes I even see them out here in the community.”
Indiana Health Centers works with a lot of immigrant families. One of the struggles they are currently addressing is the need for Creole interpreters for the growing Haitian community.
She’s learned over the years the traditional way of treatment by appointment doesn’t work for everyone and she felt healthcare has been slow to change in a way that benefits all patients.
“Everybody doesn’t fit into a cookie cutter and this is what healthcare doesn’t understand,” she said. “There are people who can’t come to their appointments. Something happens and their car breaks down. They don’t have any money. They don’t have insurance. It just doesn’t happen step one, step two, step three (for everybody). Especially for immigrants.”
IHC has walk in appointments and if someone misses their appointment they are encouraged to try to get in later during the day.
“You have to be flexible,” Perez said. “You have to work with them.”
Another group of people that IHC helps are inmates getting ready to transition back into the community. Perez will work with them to make sure they have housing and jobs and family or a church who can support the person as they readjust.
They also offer many free services to the homeless. They will help with transportation when needed and also offer gas cards to help patients reach services in Kokomo or Peru if there is no option in Cass County.
Empathy is important at the health center and Perez thinks of patients as family.
“That could be my sister, that could be my brother, that could be my mom, that could be my niece or nephew,” she said. “We are going to get them the help they need.”
Perez said she was proud to be in a position where she could help anyone who needed help, no matter who they are or what their life situation is.
To schedule an appointment or learn more about Indiana Health Centers, call 574-722-7407.